Seven reaps share of TV ad spend in weak market

The sick state of the television advertising market last year has been underlined by figures from industry group Free TV Australia, which show revenue shrank more than 4 per cent in the December half.

The capital-city TV ad market was hit the hardest as companies reined in their ad spending in response to weak consumer confidence and sluggish retail sales. Capital-city TV networks’ revenue fell 5.1 per cent in the December half, to $1.59 billion. The regional TV ad market slipped 2 per cent to $472.5 million. Across calendar 2011, the capital-city TV ad market was down 2.3 per cent.

Seven West Media
’s TV division was the best performer in a weak market, capturing 38.1 per cent of capital-city TV ad revenue in the December 2011 half, up from 37.5 per cent in the December 2010 half.

Nine Network’s share slipped marginally from 35 per cent to 34.9 per cent, while
Ten Network
’s share fell from 27.5 per cent to 27 per cent. For the full year, Seven’s revenue share rose slightly to 37.9 per cent; Nine’s full-year share was steady at 34.2 per cent; and Ten’s share declined from 28.1 per cent to 27.9 per cent – its worst result since 2001.

In November, Nine chief executive
David Gyngell
predicted his network’s revenue share would climb to 37 per cent this year thanks, in part, to its coverage of the London Olympics.“We will have our best revenue share in five or six years," Mr Gyngell said.